V/H/S 94 has finally made it’s debut, here is my review of the film.
A police S.W.A.T. team investigates about a mysterious VHS tape and discovers a sinister cult that has pre-recorded material which uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.
Synopsis
As with anything, horror anthologies can be tricky to pull off, since no one will be afraid of the same thing. As a result, you rarely feel a sustained sense of uneasiness found in single-story frights. A lot of the time the latest entry in this series stays away from the dragged out horror. This is a series of stories that will make you shiver on occasion. There will be certain sections that viewers will like more than others, but the video is consistently creepy, making it a worthwhile experience.
Many talented filmmakers are involved with this latest installment. A SWAT team is dispatched to investigate a remote warehouse following the discovery of a video tape that contains brutal events. Chaos ensues.
Anthologies typically begin with the dullest part of the story; not so with “V/H/S/94”. While Chloe Okuna’s “Storm Drain” isn’t quite up to par with “WNUF Halloween Special”, it does capture a sense of nostalgia. Despite this, it is fascinatingly reminiscent of early ’90s field news packages, right down to its quirky interviewees and a reporter wearing a puffy “this is beneath me” frown.
All sorts of weird subjects are discussed in the stories. Animated sequences include an appearance of a monster, a funeral gone wrong, and a raid on a mad scientist’s lab. In the film, you’ll find both variety and disorder, but paired together, they create an unsettling sense of chaos. This holds true even if the stories focus on S.W.A.T. findings inside the cult’s headquarters. There’s nothing in common among these short stories except that they are all violent and cheaply produced.
Furthermore, it demonstrates the limitations of found footage. I think it’s clear at this point that only certain types of stories lend themselves well to this format. In contrast, others are just constrained in their expression and end up getting hurt by a format that has such strict rules and requires a reason from within the universe so that it makes sense. It may be time for filmmakers to pay more attention to this. The traditional way of telling some of these stories may have been better than this one.
There has never been a series more famous for its quirky plots and awesome production values than V/H/S. In this situation, it doesn’t appear that anything is finished and everything is half-baked. This effort will certainly be appreciated by some of the producers’ target demographics. The film took the 94 in its title far too seriously, taking a step backward for the franchise. Taking into consideration the expectation that every sequel should surpass the previous one, this one didn’t quite deliver how it should have.
Bottom line is the film is not that good, and unless you are huge fan of the V/H/S franchise then you should skip this one.
2 out of 5 stars
